Overland quits

The Victorian Police Commissioner has resigned on the same day a report was released that criticised his handling of crime statistics. The ABC's Josie Taylor reports.

Transcript

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LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: In Victoria, the state's embattled Police commissioner Simon Overland has resigned. But the question everyone's asking is did he jump or was he pushed? There's been increasing pressure on Victoria's government and police leaders after a series of scandals. In the end, it was a report into misleading crime statistics that coincided with Simon Overland's departure, although the man himself claims that's not why he's going. Here's Josie Taylor in Melbourne.

SIMON OVERLAND, OUTGOING POLICE COMMISSIONER: I believe it's in the best interests of Victoria and Victoria Police for me to leave.

JOURNALIST: Do you have any regrets about your time in the job top?

SIMON OVERLAND: No. Thanks very much.

PETER FARIS, FMR HEAD OF NATIONAL CRIME AUTHORITY: This is an excellent result. The Liberal Government has been criticised for being slow to deal with this crisis. This shows that they haven't been slow at all and the crisis has now been properly and satisfactorily resolved with the resignation of Overland.

CHRISTINE NIXON, FMR VICTORIAN CHIEF COMMISSIONER: Simon Overland is a very tough operator. Through many threats, through the underworld wars, I think through a lot of other kind of issues raised against him, he has continued on to try and manage Victoria Police in the way that was appropriate.

JOSIE TAYLOR, REPORTER: Life at the top's been anything but smooth for Simon Overland. He was appointed chief commissioner by the Brumby Labor Government about two years ago.

SIMON OVERLAND: Leading Victoria Police will be both a privilege and a challenge.

JOSIE TAYLOR: As deputy, the former federal policeman was seen as the face of the successful gangland police taskforce. But as chief commissioner, he was often described as being too close to the Labor government, and since the election of Ted Baillieu's Coalition, he's become the focus of several investigations.

PETER FARIS: He was a very political animal. He was very conscious of his rivals, and it seemed to me, very conscious of getting rid of his rivals.

JOSIE TAYLOR: As Victorians prepared to go to the polls last year, crime and police were hot topics. In the days before the state election campaign began, senior police made a surprise announcement: assaults in the city had dropped nearly 30 per cent.

We might have won the first battle, but I think there's some more battles to go before we're gonna get there.

JOSIE TAYLOR: It was good news for the then Labor Government.

JAMES MERLINO, LABOR POLICE MINISTER (Oct. 28, 2010): What I'm doing today is welcoming, welcoming the impact, the results of those crime statistics.

JOSIE TAYLOR: The Victorian Ombudsman today found the so-called reduction in street assaults was based on selective, incomplete and yet-to-be-validated data. The decision to release the figures six weeks early was that of chief commissioner Simon Overland, but he denies that move may have cost him his career.

SIMON OVERLAND: The Ombudsman's report, as I understand it, has essentially questioned a judgment call I made and said I should have qualified some statistics. It's not the straw that's broken the camel's back as far as I'm concerned.

JOSIE TAYLOR: The Ombudsman did not find the chief commissioner was deliberately deceptive.

There've been repeated calls to overhaul Victoria's antiquated crime data system, including from Simon Overland himself just a few weeks ago.

SIMON OVERLAND (May 26): I mean, hands up who failed stats?(Raises right hand). You know, this is really hard stuff to actually get right.

HUGH DE KRETSER, SMART JUSTICE COALITION: Criticism of him or his role is a distraction from our point of view from the main issue which is that there needs to be an independent body.

JOSIE TAYLOR: Legal experts say this whole saga could have been avoided had Victoria set up an independent body to handle crime statistics. The Baillieu Government today committed to doing so.

ARIE FREIBERG, DEAN OF LAW, MONASH UNI: They're are often inadequate figures. They're - they might be the truth, but not the whole truth, and we need to have a body which will provide with us comprehensive data, and not only the data itself, but analysis of those data to tell us what they mean, what the implications are. The only place that has that in any form that I think is acceptable is the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

HUGH DE KRETSER: Victoria Police has got a conflict of interest in publishing this data when its own funding, its own public perception is shaped by the data which is - its responsible for releasing.

JOSIE TAYLOR: But it wasn't just rubbery figures that brought down the chief commissioner.

ROB HULLS, LABOR MP: The most unrelenting treachery and bastardry ever inflicted upon a chief commissioner of Police.

JOSIE TAYLOR: The Coalition publicly supported Mr Overland, but there were ongoing tensions.

PETER RYAN, VICTORIAN POLICE MINISTER: I'm not going into the intricacies of my discussions with the chief commissioner. Suffice it to say that we talked about the content of the report. He then indicated his intention to resign, and I indicated the Government's preparedness to accept that resignation if it were tendered, and it has been today.

JOSIE TAYLOR: Mr Overland resigned before facing a government inquiry into the top ranks of Victoria Police. He's also avoided being in the job when the results of three other highly sensitive inquiries are made public. The Office of Police Integrity is investigating the clash between Mr Overland and his popular deputy Sir Ken Jones. The Victorian Ombudsman is investigating that inquiry as well as examining the circumstances behind the prison murder of gangland figure Carl Williams.

The search is now on for a new Victorian chief commissioner. In the meantime, veteran Ken Lay is in charge.

KEN LAY, ACTING VIC POLICE CHIEF COMMISSIONER: It's been a difficult period over the last two months for Victoria Police. So, we, I think, are really keen now to just get on with the business. This gives us the opportunity to do that.

PETER FARIS: I would like to see a Victorian copper. I'd have a clean sweep. We wouldn't want obviously any Overland mate to be the next commissioner. We absolutely do not want a political appointment.

GREG CRAVEN, VICE-CHANCELLOR, AUST. CATHOLIC UNI: The safest thing for any government is to appoint the absolutely best, most competent chief commissioner that they can possibly find and to make sure that in no way they compromise their independence. At the end of the day, that is the safest course for a government.

JOSIE TAYLOR: Simon Overland's departure eases a political crisis, but it's an abrupt end to an appointment that had been aimed at reforming the force, and it leaves the former chief's colleagues in unchartered territory.

SIMON OVERLAND: Contrary to what has been portrayed in the media, it is a very talented, cohesive and effective leadership team. Victoria Police will continue to be very well-led in my absence. This is a great organisation and it will continue to be so. I wish Victoria Police well and I will continue to follow its progress as a private citizen.